The Bowler Twins in Narnia
by Auburn Waves
Summary: Two ill children are transported to Narnia where Queen Aravis of Archenland has been kidnapped and time travel is on the cards
1. Chapter 1

**The Bowler Twins in Narnia**

Benjamin Bowler watched his sister as she coughed and knew she would being doing the same in turn.

They were both ill, seriously ill with scarlet fever. It was Benjamin (or Ben as his friends called him) who had caught it at school from, almost all his class had scarlet fever, and he had passed it onto his sister, his twin sister Bonnie.

Bonnie Bowler was his younger sister by an hour or so. She had dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin. According to most people she looked alot like him, but was far cleverer than he could ever be.

They lived with their aunt, Beatrice because their parents had drowned when their boat went down in the freezing waters of the Antarctic ocean. They had been explorers and wanted to see the continent. The children's parents had been kind and caring, not unlike Aunt Beatrice. All around the house there were loads of pictures of their parents, paintings on walls and photos in almost every photo album in the house. They served as a memorial for the two of them. Aunt Beatrice (or Bea) always told them they had the dark eyes of their father and dark hair of their mother.

Aunt Bea was their mum's sister and she also had dark hair, she was tall and quite skinny. She almost always had a smile on her face and wore vibrant colours, though Ben had seen her sad when she thought nobody was about, she missed their mother terribly.

They lived in a big house in the countryside near the sea, there were cliffs quite nearby that looked out to the South East.

The house was a grand Victorian one reinforced with more modern material. It was furnished with antique furniture as any big old house could be and it's decoration included weapons (swords, bows and arrows...), beautiful paintings, expensive rugs and delicate curtains and cushions. The twins had their own rooms and so did Aunt Bea, her butler, her maid, her cook and various other house helpers.

Ben heard the door open in the hall and went to investigate.

"Beatrice," said the doctor. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," replied Aunt Bea and led him into the kitchen. "What is it?"

Ben followed close behind when the y shut the door. He went right up to the door, pressed his ear to it and listened.

"I'm sorry Beatrice," sighed the doctor. "There's nothing you can do. The children will die. It is certain."

"Is there nothing you can do?" whispered Aunt Bea.

"No," replied the doctor getting up. "All we can do is hope for a miracle."

Ben scampered back to the living room where his sister was, he didn't want to hear anymore, he and his sister were basically sentenced to death, a slow painful one.

He lay in bed that night thinking about it. He felt guilty about not telling Bonnie, but wasn't he sparing her the painful knowledge that she was going to die.

"_No,_" he thought. "_That's not an excuse._"

He climbed out of bed and crept to his bedroom door. It creaked slightly as he opened it, but nobody came to investigate it so he carried on down the corridor to his sister's room.

"Bonnie," whispered Ben. "Are you awake."

"Uh huh," she nodded and sat up.

She turned the lamp on that sat on her bedside table. It was very dim, it didn't give out much light, but it made you feel surrounded by shadows. Well atleast it made Ben think that, he didn't like the lamp, he thought it was eerie.

"What is it Ben?" she asked.

"Bonnie," he shivered. "We're going to die."

"Die?" she shuddered. "Well we should make the most of the life we have left. Come on."

She jumped out of bed and Ben saw that like him she was already dressed. She grabbed his hand and pulled him downstairs and out the front door.

As they stepped out onto the street, Ben felt the cold closing in then out of the mist jumped a shape. It was long like a cat. It came under the lamp post and Ben rubbed his eyes.

Had he seen what he thought he'd seen, a lion.

He turned to his sister to ask her if she had seen the lion and saw her staring at the spot under the lamp post where he had seen the lion, it was there again, but this time it didn't disappear, it moved towards them, it's walk majestic and purposeful .

The lion stopped a few feet away and stared hard at them, then he did the most surprising thing of all, he spoke.

"Children," he said softly. "Do not be afraid. I have come here with a ...how would you put it, mission."

"Who are you?" asked Bonnie who was by far the bravest of the two twins.

"Some know me as the son of the great emperor over the sea, but others know me as Aslan," replied the lion. "But at the moment, Bonnie and Ben, you are needed far away in Narnia. Come."

The lion blew softly onto them, it made Ben warm and happy, then the lion turned away. Bonnie who was still holding onto her brother's hand pulled him forwards after the lion.

Aslan disappeared at the spot under the lamp post where the children had first seen him.

The children didn't have time to stop and passed the spot under the lamp post, but as they did so the air began to rush around them and they found themselves running in a woods, a few metres away from an old fashioned sort of lamp post.

"Where are we?" asked Ben. "Where is the lion?"

"This must be Narnia," breathed Bonnie taking in the sight.

Golden sunlight streamed through the trees onto the ground. It seemed like very early in the morning, a bit after dawn.

"That's great," mumbled Ben. "Now what are we supposed to do? That lion, Aslan didn't even tell us what our mission was."

"We're sure to find out sooner or later," said Bonnie. "After all, some things we have to find out for ourselves."

Ben glanced around, it appeared to be spring, he could hear birds singing and could smell the sweet scent of blossoming flowers. This place was so beautiful and so peaceful, where were all the people, civilization?

He turned to come face to face with a rather large cat staring fiercely at him brandishing a whip.

"Ah," screamed Ben.

"Shut up you silly boy," Tell us if there are more of you."

"More of us?" he asked quite scared. "What do you mean?"

"He's not with the Majay," affirmed the cat. "But he's not from around here either." The cat addressed Ben and Bonnie. "Well come along you bunch of kids."

Ben was going to say there were only two of them, but looking at the sharp blade of the cat's sword, he decided to hold his tongue.

The twins followed the cat through the woods.

"Where exactly are we?" Ben summoned up the courage to ask.

"We're in Narnia at the moment," replied the cat. "But we have to get over to Archenland, the good queen Aravis has been kidnapped by the Tisroc's son and is being kept somewhere in Archenland and it's our job to find out where. We thought you were with the Tisroc, sent to smuggle her out of Archenland."

"Oh," said Ben, but he had no idea what the cat was talking about and why he was talking anyway, cats don't talk.

He looked to his sister, but she was as confused as he was.

"Er..." she spoke up. "What's your name sir?"

"Me?"asked the cat. "I'm Sir Purralot. Who are you two?"

"I'm Bonnie and this is my older brother Ben," she answered. "We're lost."

"You're not from Calormen are you?" remarked Sir Purralot. You're skin's too light. You must be from Narnia or from Archenland yourselves."

"Can I ask you something," said Bonnie. "If the queen is in Archenland then why are you in Narnia?"

"Good question," he remarked. "I was asked to check out a lead by the leader of the search party, but I didn't find anything. I came across you two when I was on my way back. We've got a long walk ahead of us today if we want to get back quickly.

"Which way are we headed?" asked Bonnie.

"East to the pass and into Archenland and then to the castle of Anvard where I will report what happened to King Cor and Prince Corin," replied the cat.

The three of them strolled through the woods, the sun beaming down on them.

Ben had never known the sun so close, but then again he was sure there was no such place as Narnia, Calormen or Archenland.

Where were they? Why were they here? And where was that lion, Aslan?

He looked on in wonder, he could hear birds singing and could smell the sweet scent of blossoming flowers. It was so lovely.

There was something about this place that just seemed so familiar, it was strange.

"Is it me or have we been here before," he whispered to her.

"I think so," she nodded.

Soon they came out in a field, covered in parts by heather. It was more like a meadow, now Ben came to think of it, tall grass, flowers...

"Don't worry," said Sir Purralot. "We're safe here."

The twins would have liked to stop and play, but neither could quite summon up the courage to ask Sir Purralot.

"Hi there," called Sir Purralot suddenly, causing the Bowler kids to jump back in fright, Ben thought for a horrible moment that they had done something wrong.

But then he saw the cat hurrying over to two horses standing together a little way off. He let out a sigh as he and his sister as they scurried after him.

"Hello Bree," he said to one, then turned to the other. "Hwin."

"Hello Sir Purralot," Hwin, the mare replied. "What is it that brings you here in such a hurry?"

"Yes," agreed Bree, the stallion. "Do tell old friend."

"It's Aravis," explained the cat "She's been kidnapped by the Tisroc's son."

"What Rabadash?" inquired Hwin.

"No Hwin," said Sir Purralot. "You know as well as I know that he can't go ten miles from Tashbaan. No, it's the second son Darabah who's done it."

"When did this happen?" asked Bree.

"Ten days ago," replied the cat.

"And where are you going now," asked Bree.

"I'm going to Archenland to take up the search for her," answered the cat.

"We shall come too in which case," announced Hwin.

"Definitely," agreed Bree.

Hwin ran along at the side of Bonnie and Bree the side of Ben, Sir Purralot stood ahead, rushing them on.

"Come along now you lot," he called to the others.

Ben could see the mountains in the distance, they stood out, majestic against the blue sky. He wondered how far away, because they looked miles and miles off. Jagged peaks cutting the sky, quite a frightful height and Ben had no idea how they were even going to get to them, let alone climb up to the pass.

"Oh my," exclaimed the cat.

"What is it?" asked Bree.

"Turn around everybody," instructed Sir Purralot.

"Why?" asked Bonnie.

"I forgot, but I was ordered to inform the kings and queens of Narnia of her disappearance," he replied.

Ben moaned so Sir Purralot stuck his sword in the boy's face and threatened to cut his hair off. After that Ben fell silent.

"To Cair Paravel it is then," said Bree. "Let us go forth."

The whole party changed direction and headed west towards Cair Paravel, the sea and Aslan's land though of course nobody had been there and wouldn't for another thousand years.

The five travellers slowly made their way west towards Cair Paravel, Ben mumbling about how his feet hurt and how tired and hungry he was. Finally Sir Purralot threatened him.

"If you don't hold your tongue, I'll cut it out boy," he said, hand on the handle of his sword that rested for the moment in his belt.

Ben gulped and kept quiet, he didn't doubt for one second that Purralot would think twice about cutting his tongue out, he wasn't exactly the nicest person in the world although this probably isn't a good comparison, because in the land of Narnia there is a whole Empire to the south full of mean and arrogant people, known better as Calormen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

This is the first time in this story that Bonnie has her say because it is her brother who tells most of this story.

She enjoyed the walk for she was a healthy person who loved sport, unlike her brother and she liked Sir Purralot, she thought he was adorable and brave.

Halfway through the journey she started to talk to Bree who was a care free horse now after many years in Narnia, no longer arrogant or worried of what others might think of his horse ways.

"How long have you been in Narnia?" asked Bonnie.

If only Bonnie had known how much the poor horse longed to say that he had been there his whole life, but instead he replied:

"Many years now, it's a long story, I tell you it later."

"Oh please?" she pleaded.

"There it is," announced Sir Purralot. "Isn't it magnificent!"

"It sure is," agreed Bonnie. "It's amazing."

It was indeed, it was surrounded partially by an orchard of what looked like apple trees and partially by the sparkling sea, flocks of brightly coloured birds flew round it's turrets to emphasise the point. It was an amazing sight to see and Bonnie, later always spoke of it as the dazzling castle at the waters edge.

"Well come on then," said the cat. "We can't sit around gawping at it all day, let's go inside."

And so the band followed the cat up to the castle, they were a perfectly normal band for Narnia, but to us might seem a bit weird.

"Hello there," Sir Purralot called to the two watchmen in the tower. "I Sir Purralot, knight of the grand order of the Lion and counsellor to King Cor of Archenland and Duke of Stormness Head ask an audience with the two kings and two queens of Narnia, I carry a message from the King of Archenland; King Cor."

The watchmen nodded and the doors to the great hall were opened.

Bonnie gasped, the place was filled with intricate statues, delicate tapestries and sharp weapons. It was just as grand inside as it had been outside.

In some ways it reminded her of home.

A long feasting table was set and fawns hurried about making sure that everything was pretty much perfect. It was already practically perfect anyway Bonnie thought.

"Take a seat," said one of the fawns. "Your places are labelled."

"Thank you fawn Tumnus," said Sir Purralot.

They soon found their seats, Bonnie sat next to her brother and Bree while Hwin and Sir Purralot sat opposite.

The doors at the other end of the hall opened and in came a procession of various maids and servants accompanying four people dressed in fine clothes. Two were boys and the other two were girls so Bonnie guessed that they must be the four rulers of Narnia.

They sat down and greeted their visitors in such an English way that Bonnie started to get her suspicions on whether they didn't come from England themselves.

The table was set for the feast and they couldn't wait to tuck in, they really were very hungry.

"You may begin," announced the oldest of the royalties.

Ben was about to grab everything he could with his hands, but Bonnie stopped him and he realised how rude their four hosts would think he was.

Sir Purralot spoke to the rulers and told them what had happened, Ben, who had particularly good hearing when he wanted to overhear everything that was said.

"So our dear Aravis has been taken has she," said the youngest of them.

"Yes queen Lucy," said Purralot.

"When was she taken?" asked the other woman.

"Not too long ago," answered the cat. "I'm afraid I can't remember quite when, fair Susan."

Unfortunately he soon lost interest in the conversation and preferred to just eat his food. He was a big eater and he loved food, so he was happy.

Bonnie and Ben were shown to their rooms after dinner, Bonnie had never been so fortunate, her room was full of delicate paintings of various areas of the countryside, some of them she had passed that day on their long walk.

There were fresh pyjamas laid out for her so she got changed and climbed into bed. The sheets were soft and warm so she soon fell into a deep sleep.

It didn't seem like long before she woke up to the noise of scuffling feet.

"Hello," she called out. "Anybody there."

"She saw a shadow pass across the room and her hair stood on end, she felt a cold wind down her back.

Suddenly she was grabbed from behind.

"Don't make a sound and we won't kill you, queen Lucy," snarled a voice in her ear.

Bonnie was terrified, but then again if you were being held from behind by a stranger with a knife at your throat it's hard not to be.

She was too scared to make a sound and had no doubt that she would come to harm if she did.

Then she recalled something the person had said, they thought she was queen Lucy. They had the wrong girl, how could she tell them without getting hurt, or worse killed.

No, she decided, for the moment she would just have to go along with it and pretend to be the queen, her life probably depended on it.

"Alright," said the voice in her ear. "Your going to come calmly and quietly, I'm sure your siblings will pay a good price for you."

He pulled her towards the window, as she got near it, her hand brushed against something and she grabbed it, it was a knife.

"Where is she?" hissed another voice at the window.

"Here master," cowered the first voice.

"Are you ready to die girl?" sneered the master.

Bonnie daren't say anything, she didn't want to give herself away.

"You may ask why you must die and the answer is simple; your petty country is becoming a bit too powerful for the Tisroc's liking, by killing you, we will be warning Narnia never to cross us again," he said.

"But master, I thought we were only kidnapping her," said the first person.

The two began to argue, Bonnie saw her chance, she knew what she was holding now, it was a dagger. She spun out of the first mans grip and stabbed them both through the leg.

They screamed as she ran towards the door, she pulled at it, but it wouldn't open; it was locked. It dawned on her she was trapped with the people slowly advancing.

She had an idea, the only possible way out, the window, if she could get round the men and out the window she would be okay. It was then that she remembered she was on the second floor, the drop would kill her, she had to think fast.

Suddenly it came to her, she stuck the dagger through the door and sliced out the handle.

"Help! Assassin!" she shouted as she kicked the door open and fled from her room.

Bonnie ran into her brothers room. His was like hers in almost everyway and there was a window like the one in her room, it made her shudder looking out into the indigo sky where stars shone through dense grey clouds.

"Ben," she said shaking him.

"I don't want to go to school today," he mumbled.

"Get up you idiot," said Bonnie.

"Oh it's you Bonnie," he paused and looked around. "Where are we?"

"We're in Narnia," she reminded him.

He sat up and looked around slightly puzzled then noticing it was still dark and groaned.

"Why did you wake me up?"

Bonnie had momentarily forgotten what had happened and had calmed down, but now all the fear she had felt before came rushing back. She started to shake uncontrollably and Ben saw this, he held her upper arms and tried to steady her, it reminded him of an incident that had happened the year before when Bonnie had almost been struck by lightning, she had been so scared that she kept shaking for days, she wasn't able to eat or drink and eventually fainted, she recovered two days later, but she became very ill and couldn't return to school, when asked about it, they had always she was being privately tutored, but she was really being educated by their aunt and she was doing it to the best of her ability, but they all knew that Bonnie hadn't fully recovered from the shock and here she was shaking like mad and Ben was afraid she might have a relapse.

"What is it Bonnie?" he asked still holding her.

"There's a...a...an...as...assasi...assassin," she stammered.

"What?" asked Ben. "An assassin."

Bonnie nodded, she was scared, terrified even, there was no denying it.

"Where?" he inquired.

"In...nn...m...y...r...roo...room," she stuttered.

"Come on," he said helping her up.

He saw she was carrying something, it flashed in the moonlight; a dagger, her hands were stained with blood. Ben decided not to say anything, it would only make things worse than they already were, Bonnie had used that dagger in self defence, he knew it to be true.

They hurried out into the cold corridor and right towards her room, the door was open and a trail of blood lay on the floor, it led to the wide open window at the other end of the room. Ben followed it and stared down the battlements where there was more blood, but there was no sign of anyone else. Should they keep it to themselves or should they tell the kings and queens?

He looked back and was relieved to find that Bonnie had calmed down a bit.

"Why did they want to kill you?" asked Ben a bit confused about that part of the story.

"They didn't," she replied. "They wanted to kill queen Lucy."

Ben had made up his mind that they should tell the rulers by now, surely they should warn them that someone was trying to kill them.

"So what you're saying is that someone mistook you for me," said queen Lucy looking at the girl in front of her, she had to admit, the girl did look quite a bit like she used to when she was younger.

Bonnie nodded not quite sure how the queen would react.

"Well then," she said. "You are one brave, I can give you that. Could you describe the assassin to me please?"

"They was quite small and a bit fat maybe, he had short hair and was a human I believe," she replied. "Erm...they had quite a deep voice and there were two of them, they were probably fully grown, but I'm not prepared to promise you that. I think they had dark skin, darker skin than mine and dark hair, but that might have been the light."

The queen looked at her fellow rulers and they shared a knowing look.

"Calormenes," she muttered. "This could be linked with Aravis' disappearance."

The others agreed with her, Ben had decided by now that they were brothers and sisters, although the colour of their hair was quite different, facial features such as the chin and nose were they same for all of them and they all had the same colour skin and the same look and atmosphere around them. Ben had come to like queen Lucy best, all the others seemed to have a secret or bad trait to hide.

The rulers did not seem very worried by the fact that there was an assassin out to kill them and as Ben looked around the room he could see banners, red with a gold lion on and it reminded him of how they got there, the lion had led them here, but he couldn't quite figure out why. There was something about that lion. It seemed to be following them everywhere they went.

"Don't you kids worry your heads about this matter," sympathised the older queen; Susan. "We'll sort it out."

"Susan," breathed Lucy. "You wouldn't want to be treated like that, would you?" Susan had a defeated look on her face and Lucy smiled. "You see? If you have anything to say please come and tell us about it, we will listen and if you want to get involved then that's what you should do just don't get into any trouble. Okay?"

The twins nodded, they had never been treated like this before, like adults. Queen Lucy was definitely a person who understood what it was like to always be treated like a child even when she was quite grown up and not much younger then her siblings.

"You can go and enjoy yourselves now if you want," said Lucy.

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Bonnie. "Who is the Tisroc and why does he want you dead?"

In peaceful times when Rabadash had no sons Narnia and Archenland had no enemies, but now he has a son who is power hungry and because Rabadash cannot come into our countries, the son who is called Kokenatish wanted to have his own territory to rule over he decided to invade us, but that failed so he has now taken to kidnapping royal members and blackmailing the country. Understand?"

The children nodded slowly before exiting the room.

Ben wasn't quite sure that everyone in the palace was trustworthy. One person, known as Boris seemed very suspicious.

So the next day, Ben followed him and after going down so many corridors, Ben found himself hopelessly lost and had no choice, but to keep following Boris and hope he would lead him back to a place he knew.

He was led down to a small cupboard, it was shabby and rotting slightly in the corners and round the frame, but as the man opened the door, Ben saw what looked like a grand meeting place.

There were luxurious sofas unlike any Ben had seen in Cair Paravel before and a big round coffee table decorated by various ornament and lots of orange flowers.

Five brown men were seated there already and Ben had no idea how he would get in without being seen, then a chance came.

Something crossed their only source of light casting a shadow and making them all turn to look. Ben saw his chance, slipped in and hid behind an occupied sofa, right by a small table near the wall, he wasn't visible from his hiding place.

"So," said Boris. "We still have the queen of Archenland do we?" One of the men nodded. "Good Carlos, good. May I see her."

"Of course," replied Carlos. "Bring her out."

He clicked his fingers and two of the men went into a room leading of and carried out a fidgeting beautiful queen who was wearing a pair of trousers and dressed as if she was the king or at least the prince.

"Still refusing to come back to your father and marry the brother of the new Tisroc (may he live forever)," asked Boris.

"You can't do anything to me," she spat in his eye.

"If only you could see sense," sighed Boris.

Aravis was sat down and given something to eat and drink, it was then that Ben noticed that she had spotted him and he put his fingers to his lips so she wouldn't say anything. She turned away and at that moment, he decided he should rescue her.

The men stood up and went to look out the window and Ben slipped silently out of his hiding place, Aravis was already on her feet as they sneaked towards the door, it was as they were closing the door that Carlos saw them and shouted.

"She's escaping!"

Aravis wedged the door closed and led Ben through the corridors.

"So who are you?" she asked as they paused for breath and Aravis grabbed and bow and quiver of arrows of the wall as well as a sword.

"I'm Ben," he replied.

They could hear faint footsteps of running people getting closer every second and set off again.

"Almost there," panted Aravis as they ran up another flight of steps and burst into a room.

"Where are we?" asked Ben.

"The kitchens," she said indicating the people in the place.

Ben wasn't sure, but he followed her to a small cabinet just big enough to fit two people comfortably.

It was dark and stuffy although an optimist would have called it snug and warm.

They could here the men barge into the kitchens and start threatening the staff with every bad thing imaginable, but none would break and nobody said a thing about them.

"Search the kitchens!" ordered one man.

Ben felt a sickening feeling in the bottom of his stomach, he was almost certain they would find him and Aravis in the small cupboard.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Then Aravis tapped him and indicated that they should move further back into the cupboard. Ben did what he was told and found himself moving further and further it seemed like miles, but then he fell, everything went black and suddenly Ben found himself standing on a hill that had a city built on it with a river of some sort surrounding it at ground level.

"Where are we?" asked Ben curiously, looking around.

"Tashban," whispered Aravis.

As Ben stared around he saw that the place seemed slightly blurred and a bit discoloured.

"Is it a strange colour, a bit blurred maybe or am I just going blind?"asked Ben.

"You're right," nodded Aravis. "It's like a dream or a memory."

"But how is that possible?" inquired Ben.

"It's magic of course," replied the Queen.

"Perhaps if somebody had told Ben it was magic a few days earlier he would have laughed at them, but not now, not after being transported to the strange world of Narnia by a mysterious character, now he came to think of it though, maybe he should ask somebody about him.

Aravis threw him a cloak that could cover him so nobody would be able to see him properly. Although he didn't think it would make much difference even if they could.

Just then they heard the sound of trumpets and all the people swept to the side. Aravis was in the front and pushed backwards trying not to be seen and bashed into a girl with two horses, she turned to look quite swiftly and in one moment she knew where they were, they were in the past, at the time when she, Aravis had been escaping from Calormen with Cor or Shasta as he had been known as then.

She was the woman she had seen so many years ago. She was here, but why, nothing happened by accident, that was something she had learnt in the magical lands of the North.

A party of unmistakable Narnians passed by. Containing, Prince Edward, they recognised Shasta and took him away, Aravis wondered what Ben was thinking, did he recognise anyone?

The answer to this question as anyone who knows Ben well will know that he couldn't recognise people very easily unless he had known them for a long time (over a week).

As soon as the Narnian lords had passed, the crowd began to go back to it's work. Aravis seized this opportunity to pull Ben out of the crowd and make her way down to the gates that led to the desert.

It was hard to not look suspicious as anyone who's tried knows and a few people gave them eerie looks, one even jumped at them with a dagger and threatened to kill them, Aravis saved the day by giving them gold.

They finally arrived at the desert gate, it was getting darker by the second and Aravis who hadn't spent the night in the desert wasn't sure what to expect.

Be heard the sound of wild animals, of soft paws on the sand, getting closer and closer.

Then he heard a roar and all the animals scampered off.

"We should rest," said Aravis taking charge of the situation.

They lay down and as a small breeze swept over them, Ben fell into a deep sleep.

It seemed like ages before Ben finally awoke, looking around he realised he had overslept, the sun was already high in the sky and Aravis was still asleep, he made to wake her up and found she was slightly panicked.

"Where do we go from here?" he asked.

Aravis scanned the horizon.

"That way," she replied pointing to a tall two peaked mountain in the distance. "Towards Stormness H..." She paused for a minute.

"What is it?" asked Ben.

"Surely if we're back here, there's something we have to do, like stop the army," she thought out loud. "Come on," she said pulling him in a straight line from the gates of Tashban. "We'll soon come to an oasis if we go this way, we must carry as much water as we can, this will be a hard journey."

At that she unhooked two water bottles from her belt and filled them up in the river before they set off.

The desert climate was harsh and Ben's throat was soon dry and he needed a drink, Aravis however had made the journey before and being an adult could store more water, but the desert soon took it's toll on both of them and having to walk made it even harder.

As they came down to the last of their water the oasis came insight and both of them were relieved as they filled up their bottles and grabbed a few fruits off the trees to eat.

"Can we rest here a minute?" asked Ben.

"Alright," agreed Aravis. "But we Have to get going soon."

They hadn't been resting long when Aravis spotted a shimmer in the distance; the army.

Perhaps it was the heat or maybe it was just instinct that gave Ben the idea, but nonetheless, it seemed crazy, mad.

"So let me get this straight," said Aravis for the fourth time. "You want to fire coconuts at the army." Ben nodded enthusiastically. "Very well," she agreed.

The two of them set about collecting fallen coconuts and Aravis climbed the trees to pick the ones there.

"So, how many have we got after all that?" asked Aravis.

After counting they found they had twenty which meant that they couldn't really afford to miss if they wanted to knock out a good number of them. They set up a firing system like a big slingshot between two trees and prepared to shoot. Aravis took aim and fired, they heard the satisfying noise of coconut upon armour and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground,.

They continued firing until thy had used up all their coconuts and knocked out 18 men, they were only half a kilometre away by now and Aravis and Ben knew they had to run now to stand any chance at all of escaping.

They set off as fast as they're legs would carry them North.

Eventually they came to a long winding river known as the Winding Arrow. Where they were it wasn't very deep so they waded through it to the other side.

They were now on Archenlandish soil, they were safe, for the moment.

Bonnie was beginning to worry about her brother, she hadn't seen him all day and yet she seemed to be the only one that noticed, the rulers seemed to engrossed in national affairs and the servants didn't pay any attention to what went on around them.

So Bonnie decided to have a look for him around the castle.

She didn't have any luck until she arrived at the kitchens.

"Have any of you seen my brother?" she asked.

For some reason the staff stared at her as if trying to sum up whether she was telling the truth and it made her feel uncomfortable. She felt like taking to her heels and fleeing the kitchens, but wouldn't they then think that she was untrustworthy.

Instead she stood her ground and waited patiently, eventually the staff turned back to their work, but they didn't give her an answer.

She was none the wiser about her brothers whereabouts than she had been before.

Bonnie felt very sad as she half-heartedly climbed the stairs, then she noticed for the first time a tapestry on the wall depicting a scene in which a lion crowned the kings and queens. It was the same lion that had brought them, her and her brother there in the first place.

But who was he?

"Hello again child," said a soothing voice behind.

She spun round to see the same lion who was not only on the tapestry, but had brought her and her brother there.

As he breathed she felt herself getting braver and braver.

"Who are you, why are me and my brother here?" asked Bonnie.

"You are here to help Narnia and Archenland out of a dark time, you still have quite alot to do, do not worry, I will be watching you," replied and turned to leave.

"Where's my brother?" she asked.

"I only tell people their story, not anyone else's," he smiled.

Bonnie looked at the floor, when she looked up again, the lion was gone, as swiftly and silently as he had come.

Thinking about what the lion had said she realised that she probably wouldn't be seeing her brother for a while and she knew that there were more dangerous times ahead, they wouldn't have the easy, no trouble life they had lived since getting there.

This is where things started going wrong, more wrong than the assassination attempt, Bonnie couldn't help imagining the worst.

Ben and Aravis were led out to a quickly built wooden platform with two ropes hanging from a wooden beams. It was an ugly structure, but then again murder was an ugly thing.

Ben could see they were the only prisoners and as they were forced up onto the platform he could see a crowd of cheering soldiers.

He thought that for the second time in a few days, he was certain he was going to die.

"Don't worry," whispered Aravis. "It's slow and painful."

"Thanks," gulped Ben a lump rising in his throat, but then he3 noticed Aravis was grinning. "she must have a plan after all," he thought.

Two soldiers forced them to stand on the blocks of wood and tightened the stings round their necks and Ben started to doubt if he would make it through this.

"Surprise is the advantage here," she muttered and passed something to Ben; a dagger. "As soon as they remove the block, cut yourself free."

"How?" mouthed Ben.

"They're pretty dumb you know," she told him. "Don't even check for weapons."

"Quiet," hissed one of the soldiers before he and another kicked the wooden blocks away.

Ben immediately reached up and cut himself down, he found Aravis had done the same thing and they were now faced by a mob of dumb, but numerous soldiers angry because they hadn't seen an execution.

"Get behind me," ordered Aravis as she cut a slow, but clear path through the soldiers towards their escape.

Swords clanged, the soldiers were confused and started fighting each other making it much easier for the prisoners to make their getaway, soon the place would be a battle scene, thought Ben and soon he and Aravis would have vanished.

They left the battle behind them and ran into the forest without stopping, fear gives one a knew energy some say and Ben saw the fruitfulness of their words.

"Come on," she urged Ben who had trouble keeping up with the athletic Aravis.

She suggested they climb a tree until the enemy had passed, but nobody came looking for them so they sat down in a clearing ready to fall asleep.

"How do you know how to do all that stuff?" Ben asked.

"I had to learn it being a queen and all," she replied. "Good night."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Ben woke up, it was still night time, Aravis was still asleep, he rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but couldn't so he got up and looking around, he thought he saw a shimmer of gold between the trees.

Being curious by nature, he decided to go and investigate, ducking and twisting to avoid branches he made his way deeper into the forest.

He came to another clearing where he could have sworn the light was coming from and looked around, he couldn't see anything so he decided to go back and came face to face with a lion, much bigger than any he had seen at the zoo.

"Hello Ben," said the lion. "Do you remember me, I am Aslan, the son of the Emperor over the sea. Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you, I am here to tell you your story."

"My story," he breathed he felt much braver next to the lion.

"Yes that's right," he replied. "You are here to help Aravis, she needs you more than you think. You are not done in this time yet."

"But how do we get back to the other time?" asked Ben.

"Aravis will know, but it'll be harder than you will at first think," answered the lion.

"What about my sister, what about Bonnie?" the boy asked.

"I only tell people there own stories not anyone else's," said the lion.

Ben looked at the forest floor and felt like crying, when he looked up Aslan was gone so he decided to make his way back to Aravis.

Suddenly someone grabbed him from above.

Ben felt a strong grip pull him up. He tried to scream, but a hand covered his mouth.

He could see movement up ahead where Aravis had been sleeping and a million thoughts ran through his head, _had they captured her, was she dead, why were they there, who were they, what did they want, where was Aravis?_

He was sat down on a sturdy bow and turned round to get a good look at his attacker. He almost cried out, but the attacker put a finger to their mouth.

"Aravis," he whispered.

"Ssssshhh," she replied. "Quiet, now we watch."

Ben could see their camp from their vantage point, some of those soldiers were looking around.

"Looks like we're to late," grunted one.

"Yeah," agreed another.

After what seemed like hours they left leaving Ben with a sore butt after sitting on the rough brancjh for ages.

"What happened?" he asked. "How did they find us?"

"We were followed," she replied. "Where were you? I thought they had caught you. Please don't do that again, I was so worried."

"I'm sorry," Ben muttered apologetically. "I saw Aslan."

"You saw Aslan?" she asked amazed. "What did he say."

"He told me that our adventure isn't over yet," sighed Ben rather dumbly.

"Never mind," said Aravis.

She dropped down from the tree and landed perfectly as if she did it all the time, she called to Ben to follow, but he got a bit dizzy looking at the ground a good ten metres away.

"I can't," he told her. "I'm afraid of heights."

"Oh," Aravis bit her lip. "Jump and I'll catch you."

Ben took one last look at the ground below before closing his eyes and jumping. Aravis caught him firmly without even stumbling. He opened his eyes as she set him on the forest floor.

"Thank you," he said and Aravis nodded.

"Right now if I remember correctly we are near the hermit of the southern march," Aravis thought aloud, but then we can't really go to him..."

"Why not," interrupted Ben.

"Well around about now, me and the horses will be there," she explained. "Everything might go wrong and they could get confused."

"Well what are we going to do then?" inquired Ben.

"I suggest we..." started Aravis.

"Look out," shouted Ben once again interrupted.

There was a soldier behind the queen, Ben grabbed a log and swung it at the attacker. Then looked down at his hands slightly amazed at what he had just done.

But he didn't have much time to think, because the man picked himself up again and charged at them. Ben pushed Aravis to one side and jumped up holding onto a tree branch narrowly missing the charging man.

Then he dropped down, the man picked himself up and was just about to run a sword through Ben when the soldier fell forwards onto the ground to reveal A dagger in his shoulder and Aravis standing behind him.

"He's not dead," Aravis assured Ben. "Just in shock, he won't be bothering us for a while."

"Where are we going again?" asked Ben.

"I'll tell you later," replied Aravis eyeing the soldier on the ground with suspicion as if expecting him to be faking it, but he didn't move. "Come on then. We have to get going now."

Aravis turned and walked away with Ben in tow.

"Hello," said Sir Purralot coming up to Bonnie in the hall.

"Oh hi," she replied.

"Have you seen your brother?" he asked.

"No," she shrugged.

"Probably making a nuisance of himself," muttered the cat earning him a look of reproach from Bonnie. "Or something else," he added hastily.

"Never mind," sighed Bonnie. "What is it that you want?"

"Well my...I know you might... well you wouldn't..." he stammered then blurted it out. "I thought that maybe you would like to learn some word fighting."

Bonnie hesitated, the idea of being able to use a sword, it was...

"Brilliant!" she exclaimed.

"Oh good," said Purralot, the concerned expression on his face changing to a relieved one.

Bonnie followed the talking cat through corridors, up and down stairs and by the end of it her feet were so sore she felt like she wanted to lie down forever and never stand on her feet again. Sir Purralot handed her a sword and she took it by the handle. She hadn't expected it to be so heavy so her arm fell as soon as Purralot let go of it.

"Sorry Bonnie," he apologised. "Maybe this one."

The sword he gave her was slightly smaller and definitely much lighter. She easily held it aloft and swung it, almost knocking her friend's head off.

"Sorry," she said letting the sword fall at her side.

"Right now," started Purralot. "There are many different moves, a combination of force and tactic. For example, if I were to do this." He lunged at her and Bonnie instinctively rose her sword to block the attack. "Yes, that's right, you're obviously a natural, a natural I say."

Purralot showed her how to improve on the moves and then suggested a practice fight. Bonnie was hesitant, she wasn't sure that it was such a good idea. What if somebody got hurt, but she agreed after a bit more thinking.

The swords clashed together time after time, Bonnie couldn't really remember what happened next, because it happened so fast. When she came back to her normal state of mind Sir Purralot was on the floor and she was pointing her sword at the poor cat's chest.

"Sorry," she said for the second time in an hour or so.

She dropped her sword to her side and helped Purralot up.

"We'll have to continue with this later," he said then bowed.

Bonnie swung round to see a boy a little older than herself dressed in fine clothes not unlike the wealthy. He looked very rich.

"And who are you?" he asked.

Bonnie felt small and there was one thing Bonnie Bowler didn't like it was feeling small.

"Who are you?" she replied.

"That's not an answer," he said slyly.

"That's not either," retorted Bonnie. "Who are you?"

"Three guesses," he answered. "If you don't guess, I won't tell you."

Bonnie looked passed the boy where Sir Purralot was mouthing something, but she couldn't quite make it out. The boy turned to look in the cat's direction and he pretended to be standing still looking at his feet.

"King Kong," said Bonnie slowly. "_That was stupid,_" she thought.

Luckily neither Sir Purralot or the boy seemed to know who it was, thankfully. She guessed the boy wouldn't be happy being compared to a giant, but then again the ape was kind. She shook the thought out of her head, now was not the time to be thinking about giant apes.

"Prince Roland," she guessed, trying to see what Purralot was mouthing and then she had it. "Prince Ram," she said proudly then frowned, she didn't know who Prince Ram was and made the mistake of saying it aloud. "Who's that?"

Immediately the boy spun round to look at Sir Purralot who was once again trying to look innocent.

"Purralot!" he exclaimed. "You rascal, you told her didn't you?" Purralot's face went red. "You did! You're always trying to do the right thing, it's no fun." He shrugged. "And you are?"

"Three guesses," she imitated him. "And if you don't guess, I won't tell you."

The prince laughed.

"You're smart," he commented.

"The girl's name is Bonnie," said Purralot and Bonnie shot him a murderous look.

"Well Bonnie," said Ram. "You're a great sword fighter, how about a dual?"

"_A dual,_" Bonnie thought with dread.

But she needn't have worried, she soon had prince Ram on the floor as she had Purralot, but she couldn't for the life of her remember how. This time however, she didn't help her opponent up and Purralot looked at her disapprovingly as if it was something she had to do.

"So where are we going?" asked Ben as they walked on, he could hear horns in the distance and a mist was descending.

"The pass," she replied. "My guess is that to get back to our time we have to go back through the cupboard in the kitchen at Cair Paravel so that's where we're going. I just hope the cupboard is still there now or was there now. All this time stuff is confusing."

"If we're in the past people won't know you yet will they," stated Ben. "How are we going to get in?"

"Tomorrow there will be a great fight at Anvard, the kings and queens, except Susan will be gone and many of the servants as well, it shouldn't be too hard to get through the palace to the kitchens, no our trouble is not to be seen by the Narnian army that will come across the pass as soon as Cor tells them what is going to happen."

"Right," said Ben. "How long have we got?"

"Not very long," she replied grabbing his arm and pulling him through the last stretch of woods and into an open field. "Cor told me he crossed the pass during the night and if the sky's anything to go by, it's almost morning, so we must make haste."

Aravis was right, the sky which had been a navy blue when they'd started walking was now streaked with gold and getting brighter all the time. They had to hurry, Ben caught up with Aravis as they ran across the open plains and towards the mountains. He had seen the mountains before and the Archenland side didn't look very different from the Narnian side, but he couldn't see all that clearly in the mist so he couldn't be sure.

As they entered the pass the sun was blocked out making it impossible to see more than a metre or so in any direction and Ben felt very cold surrounded by the mass of suspended rain droplets in the low lying cloud. It made him feel rather sick.

"Now's no time to be faint hearted," said Aravis as they trudged on, the moisture in the air weighing them down.

They came to a turning in the road and Aravis pulled him one way, the mist was getting more dense by the second and Ben's head began to turn as well as his stomach. He was brought to his senses by a high pitched scream. It was Aravis, through the mist he could see a hand at his feet and bent down to help her, but as soon as he had, he wished he hadn't.

The mist was thinner nearer the ground. He was kneeling at the very edge of a long precipice that seemed to go down for ever. He could see Aravis' terrified face, her body dangling down, her only hold a piece of rock held tightly in her right handed.

He started to feel dizzy looking down and when he reached for Aravis' hand he missed it entirely. His fear of heights, his vertigo was taking over.

Now was not the time to be spared, if he didn't over come his fear Aravis would surely fall to her death, but what could he do.

"Give me your hand," he shouted leaning over the edge as far as he could without the risk of falling in himself. Aravis pulled her body up and grabbed at the boy's arm, she missed. "Come on," he shouted as she tried again.

This time her hand caught his firmly and he pulled her up, but he couldn't do much, she was still half dangling over the edge of the precipice.

"Let go," she called out to him and he allowed her top half to drop onto the path, the rest Aravis did, she pulled herself up and got to her feet, brushing the rock off her clothes. "I'm okay. Now we should get going if we want to get to Cair Paravel in time."

The mist was clearing now, they still had a while to go if they wanted to cross the pass in time. So they set off at a running pace, Aravis didn't seem shaken by the ordeal, but she stayed well away from the edge as they ran.

Bonnie had remarked that most of the servants in Cair Paravel were animals who could talk like humans and were somewhat larger than the animals of her world. With them there was a sense of kindness and loyalty that you didn't get around humans. You may think it was hard to get used to the idea, but after a day or two she didn't really notice them any more than the human ones.

So it didn't surprise Bonnie when a ferret brought in a cup of water followed by a dog with a plate of food for prince Ram. He picked up a drumstick and offered it to the cat who ate it all except the bone which he placed neatly back on the plate.

"Where are your manners?" commented Bonnie.

"Where are yours," he retorted.

"Whatever," muttered the girl as he offered her some food, but she declined. "No thanks."

The prince shrugged.

"I was just coming into the in stables," announced Ram. "When I saw Bree and Hwin in the woods around the castle. I don't know why, but they seemed awkward as if there was something wrong and I thought that you and I could go check it out, Purralot."

Bonnie watched the cat nod and bow to the prince before running to open the door for him.

"And your not asking me to come?" said Bonnie indignantly.

"Your welcome to come if you want to," replied the prince."But don't get in the way."

Ram led the way followed closely by Sir Purralot and Bonnie who wasn't feeling too happy just then, but atleast she had a chance to get out of the castle. Something she hadn't been allowed to do at all since they had arrived, now was her chance and she wasn't going to miss it.

"Where did you see them sire?" inquired Purralot.

"Call me Ram," the prince told him. "Er...they were near the dancing lawn last I saw and they didn't look like they were going anywhere."

"Then let us go there sire!" exclaimed Purralot then caught the prince's eye. "I mean Ram."

For Bonnie it proved a rather boring trip to the dancing lawn as nobody spoke except Sir Purralot who continuously tried to strike up a conversation without success, but he never gave up. They passed some beautiful scenery on the way, but Bonnie couldn't appreciate it for two reasons. One; she was in a particularly bad mode and Two; she had already seen most of it.

As the dancing lawn came into sight Bonnie could see the two horses they had been with earlier standing protectively back to back.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Purralot.

"Shhh," hushed Bree.

"They're coming!" whispered Hwin. "Step away children."

"Who's coming?" inquired Purralot, but there was no time for an explanation and no need for one as a pack of wolves burst out of the trees, blood stained teeth bared.

"Wolves!" gasped Bonnie as they charged at the group.

Bree and Hwin stepped forwards and fought them off, but they got up and charged again, this time from all sides surrounding the group. Ram took out his sword as did Purralot and Bonnie decided she should do the same.

Although the group fought fiercely they barely scratched the skin off the wolves who backed up and prepared to charge once again still surrounding them and blocking all exits to safety.

"This is no place for a lady!" shouted Ram above the commotion.

"You're right," replied Bonnie. "You should get away and let the rest of us handle this."

"That's not what I meant!" exclaimed an exasperated prince.

"Sure," said Bonnie slyly. "That's what they all say."

"Watch your back!"cried Ram as he killed a wolf that had been inches away from biting Bonnie in the back of the head then he turned and grinned at her.

"Thanks," said Bonnie with a hint of shyness. Maybe she had been wrong about prince Ram, maybe he wasn't as bad she'd thought.

"No problem," he replied as they continued to battle with little success the oncoming wolves.

They weren't making any significant blows and only two wolves were dead while the rest of the pack continued to where them down. The animals leapt and snapped, but still the group fought back. Nobody was winning and nobody was losing...yet.

Bonnie like anyone else in her position knew that the wolves had alot more stamina than the humans and if the fight didn't turn in their favour pretty soon then the wolves would have them for sure. They'd be goners for certain.

The group were tiring, it was obvious to see as a wolf scratched Hwin tearing her flesh causing her to bleed, but Bonnie determined to win sliced at one with her sword when it was aiming for Purralot, piercing it in the chest making it fall to the ground limp and dead.

She shivered, Bonnie had never killed anything before except for a few unfortunate ants and that was an accident. It made her feel sick inside. It made her go rigid, she stood paralyzed for a moment, but that was all it took. Out of nowhere a wolf leapt at Bonnie knocking her to the ground, her head began to swim and then everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"You alright?" asked Aravis.

Ben wasn't feeling so well, he felt weak and his feet hurt from running half the night, but he knew that they couldn't stop because if they did they would be found and might never get back to the right time, the time they came from. But he couldn't take it anymore and sat down on a boulder in the pass to rest a bit.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm okay, I just need to take a break that's all. I'm a bit tired and I'm so hungry and so thirsty. If I don't have something to drink I swear I'll die."

"I suppose you're right," sighed Aravis and sat down also. "Here."

She pulled out a cask of water and handed it to Ben who drank it gratefully, but when he offered the queen some she pulled out another flask and waved it at him to show she had enough for herself.

"Where did you get the water from?" inquired Ben. He could have been sure they'd already used up the supply from the oasis.

"There was a river in the forest," she told him. "When I woke up and found that you weren't there I decided to go looking for you and I came across this stream. I thought I should fill our flasks for when we needed them as they were as good as empty. So I followed the stream in the opposite direction to that in which it was flowing and eventually I came to the source where I filled the casks. I was on my way back when I heard voices from our camp. I thought it would be best to find out what was going on without being seen. I climbed that tree and saw the Calormenes then what luck, but you come along unharmed and that's when I pulled you up into the tree."

Ben was quite surprised by the events Aravis had recounted to him, he had assumed she had been at their camp and heard the Calormenes coming, but obviously he was mistaken and glad too.

"Come on," said Ben getting up. "We need to be going."

He eyed the sky, it had been light for about an hour now, but he couldn't tell for sure.

"Right you are," agreed Aravis as she collected Ben's flask and tucked it into the folds of her robes where it was no longer visible. "Let's go."

They started running again and although the water made them stronger for a while it soon wore of and they were struggling again, feet hitting the rock hard.

"How long is this pass," cried Ben and as soon as he said it, they turned a corner and the sun flooded into the narrow rocky pass.

They had a clear view of the scenery below. Near the foot of the mountain was a forest, beyond that a small town and further still fields and fields and more forests complete with rivers and streams all bathed in the morning sunlight. It was beautiful except for one thing.

"Look!" exclaimed Aravis.

Shimmering in the sunlight was something silver. The army of Narnia was crossing the fields rather swiftly soon they wood be at the pass.

"Come on," Ben grabbed Aravis' arm and pulled her down the mountainside and into the forest that awaited them at the foot of the mountain.

Desperately they searched for somewhere to hide as they could here the battle horn in the distance. There were lots of trees where they stood, but they were thin and far apart, not a promising hiding place in sight. They moved further into the forest where they trees began to get thicker and more dense. It was Ben who spotted two trees that had grown so closed together they almost looked like one. The two of them hurried towards the trees and got behind them.

Luckily for the queen and the boy, the army didn't pass their way and so they were safe as they heard the horn away in the distance and so guessed that the army had entered the pass.

"You said you were hungry right?" said Aravis.

"Right," replied Ben.

"Then let's eat," she smiled pulling a dagger out of her robes. "You see that pig?" Ben nodded. "It's not a talking one and it seems rather dumb to me. We're going to catch it, make sure and if I'm right eat it. Cooked of course," she added seeing Ben's doubtful expression.

"How do we catch it?" asked Ben.

"With a trap," answered Aravis picking some nuts off the ground and pulling a healthy vine from a tree. She tied the vine into a loop and set the nuts in it before slinging the other end of the vine over the branch of a near by tree. Keeping hold of that end she hid and told Ben to do the same.

Soon enough the pig stumbled upon their trap and fell right into it.

"Can you understand me?" asked Aravis to the pig who was dangling from the tree.

The pig just grunted and snorted trying in vain to get down and so it was established the animal was not a talking one and so they made a fire, or rather Aravis did as Ben didn't have much of an idea how to and ate the a bit of the pig and rapped up the rest of the meat for later if they needed it. They also filled the flasks up from a nearby spring and set of running again towards the palace of Cair Paravel so that they might return to their own time.

Ben and Aravis hurried forwards with a new found energy from eating and having a drink of water, the Narnian sun passed slowly across the sky as they darted through the fields, hiding every now and again in bushes and in hedges whenever somebody came in their direction or whenever they spotted someone, normally in the far distance, but they had a few close shaves and were almost seen by a group of passing fawns.

As they got nearer to the castle, Ben was once again taken in by it's splendour, even though at the time when he had first seen it, he had thought nothing could be so fine and intricate. Now that he stood in front of Cair Paravel in the past, he realised how wrong he had been, for as he saw it for the second time, in the past it was even more magnificent and belittled the forest and orchard around it.

"Follow me," whispered Aravis as they ran through the last stretch of forest into the apple orchard that bordered the Cair Paravel.

Ben did as he was told and they silently ran through the orchard, quiet as mice until they came to a wall and a pillar that depicted a fawn, it was so lifelike that for a moment, Ben had thought they were done for.

Aravis started tapping the walls and tearing of the few creepers that had grown up the sides, Ben frowned.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Ssshh," hissed Aravis waving her hands at him frantically. "Ah hah."

A twig broke in the distance and Ben saw Aravis freeze on the spot just like him and wondered if this was how robbers felt when they were in danger of being caught. Another twig broke, but closer this time, Ben could feel his heart pounding in his chest as the bushes to his right rustled.

Out of them lumbered a ball of brow fur, but it wasn't a ball at all, it started to uncurl and Ben realised that they were now face to face with a fierce looking bear. It drew itself up to it's full height and towered several feet above them.

"I'm guessing this isn't good," muttered Ben dumbly.

"Uhuh," nodded Aravis then turned to address the bear. "Can you understand me?"

The bear looked at them for a moment, then roared, spitting his saliva into Ben's hair making it stick up as if there was hair gel on it. It was clear that the bear did not as he bared his teeth and opened his mouth wide moving towards them preparing to tear them to pieces.

Aravis who was no longer glued to the spot was struggling with something on the wall. Desperately she looked round to see the bear coming towards them and suddenly she fell over and a doorway appeared in the wall.

"Quick, get inside," she told Ben as she pushed him through the opening then followed herself before sliding a great stone back into place.

They lay panting in the darkness for a moment or two and finally Ben spoke.

"Where are we?" he asked as Aravis struck a match lighting their surroundings and showing exactly where they were.

There was an old torch on the wall which Aravis lit before extinguishing the little fire on the end of the matchstick. It was a brighter more powerful light and Ben could now see that they were standing in a passageway that seemed to go on for a long time before turning so that he could see no further along the path. The walls were plain stone engraved with pictures of what appeared to be the beginning of the world. Under the pictures was a strange kind of writing that Benn had never seen before.

"What does it say?" inquired Ben.

"In the beginning there was nothing, there was only Aslan, the son of the emperor over the sea," said Aravis in a faraway voice. "Then there were the two children, Polly and Digory with them were the first king and queen of Narnia, King Frank and Queen Helen, the wicked uncle and the diminished White Witch along with a horse by the name of Strawberry. Aslan sung the world of Narnia into being in a voice so soft yet so fierce that none could ever have sung that way."

Aravis stopped and Ben looked puzzled.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The writing stops here," she replied also puzzled.

"Surely not," frowned Ben, but as he inspected the wall closely he could see that there was no more writing. "So where do we go from here?"

"We just follow the passage," she said and led the way forwards down the passageway that twisted and turned every now and again, but eventually they came to a fork in the passage, where there were two tunnels leading in different directions.

Aravis stared at them and raised the torch to have a look at the bit of wall above each one. On the first there was an engraving of a lion and on the second that of a tiger, it was quite confusing and they had to pause to discuss the meaning of all of it at which point Ben decided to ask her how she knew about the tunnel and why she didn't know which way to go.

"Well," she said. "I read about this passageway in an Archenlandish book of legends and when we came here today I kind of hoped it would be more simple than this."

"Wait," Ben commanded. "What did the book say exactly, did it say anything about following an animal or thing."

"Now I come to think of it, it did say something like that!" she exclaimed. "It said _follow the founder for he will guide you._"

"The founder," muttered Ben. "Who is the founder? Perhaps it was someone who built the castle, or..." He stood up and pointed excitedly to the tunnel on their right. "Aslan created Narnia."

"Good thinking Ben," Aravis praised him as they ran down the passage to their right, Aravis leading the way with her torch held above her head so as to illuminate the whole passage.

Bonnie woke to the sound of a piercing howl. It took her a moment to remember exactly where she was and she couldn't open her eyes, they seemed as if they were glued together. She summoned up the energy, and it was alot of energy to open her eyes.

She was on the ground next to the carcass of a wolf, the one she remembered, that had attacked her and knocked her to the floor. She could see, Sir Purralot, the horses and Ram in a protective circle around her, so as to put themselves between her body and the attacking wolves. There were noticeably less than before, but they were still as vicious and brutal, more even.

"Bonnie!" exclaimed Ram turning round. "You're okay!"

"Yeah," she mumbled helping herself up. "How long have I been out?"

"A few minutes," he replied. "Long enough for us to knock off a good number of them. As you can quite obviously see."

Bonnie picked up her sword and struck down an advancing wolf, threatening to squash good old Purralot. He was very grateful.

They fought on and again it seemed like a stalemate where neither the wolves nor the group could get the upper hand, but then Bree lifted his front legs high in the air and brought them crushing down upon the heads of two of the wolves causing a state of complete confusion in the wolves, humans and the cat. The horses however seemed to know exactly what to do and as soon as the chaos broke out, they delivered blow after blow on the confused wolves resulting in yet more on the ground and the rest fleeing in panic.

The group waited in anticipation for a while, but the poor wolves never returned.

"Well fought," Sir Purralot exclaimed, patting the two horses and looking up to them with a look of nothing, but admiration and gratefulness on his face.

"Thank you," said Bree.

"Thank you," agreed Hwin as they all smiled.

"So what now?" asked Bonnie. "Do we go back to the castle?"

"No!" exclaimed Ram earning a look of reproach from Purralot. "We finally get out of the castle and now you want to go back. Are you crazy?"

"So where are we going if you're such the genius?" asked Bonnie.

"Well I never," came a squeaky voice from near their feet. "Doris! It's the Prince of Archenland."

Bonnie was sure she saw a faint smile of contempt pass across the prince's face and she glared at him, he must have noticed as the next moment it disappeared before they both turned to look around them.

"Yoohoo," came the voice again. "Down here."

The grouped looked down at their feet where they could see two rats, one was white with a pretty pink nose and a look about her that told you she was a nice person as well as being pretty. The other was black with a pink nose, he was tall and sleek with an air of power.

"Who are you?" asked Ram.

"I'm Boris," said the black one as if he couldn't believe how lucky he was and Bonnie saw the smile reappear on Ram's face. "And this is my wife Doris. We're mice."

Bonnie could feel herself going red and the others looked at her concerned although Ram smirked at her for a second as if he knew that she had thought they were rats, perhaps he had too. That thought reassured her and she felt her face cooling down.

"I'm okay," she assured them.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ram continuing his interrogation of the rats...mice!

"We heard of the commotion in the forest, with the wolves and all, terrible tyrants they were," replied Boris. "But I think you scared them well and truly out of their stinking furry skins."

"But then what do you expect," piped in Doris. "They were always in favour of the days of she who must not be named..."

"The White Witch," the prince explained to a confused Bonnie, but that didn't help much.

"They've been running this forest for years you know," sighed Doris. "But they were very smooth about, never showing it when the palace people come this way."

That was always the way with bullies, sweet on the outside, but rotten within. Who should know better than Bonnie who had been teased for years because she was afraid of everywhere for a while. Luckily, the bullies had moved to a different school.

"We are forever indebted to you prince of Archenland," said Boris.

"It was nothing," he replied. "And it wasn't really me, it was Bree and Hwin here who really did all the work. I was just a bit of a helper, while Purralot did alot and Bonnie scared us all half to death when she fainted.

"I didn't faint," she said indignantly. "I was hit by a wolf."

"Sure," muttered Ram. "That's what they all say."

"Ooooh," squeaked Doris. "The girls will never believe me when I tell them!"

"Tell them what?" inquired Boris and everyone looked at the female mouse.

"That prince Ram has a girlfriend!" she exclaimed.

Ram and Bonnie stared at the mouse with an expression of complete and utter disbelief on their faces and Purralot fell over laughing and rolling around on the floor in fits.

Doris realised she'd said something wrong and blushed while both Bonnie and Ram shot the cat a stern look making him stop laughing for a moment and get up snorting a bit then finally regaining himself.

"Sorry sir, sorry Bonnie," he said brushing himself down and looking serious again although on his face was a faint smile.

Bonnie had recovered from the ridiculous idea of the mouse although she still couldn't quite believe her ears and wondered how of all the strange things in the world the mouse had thought of it. It obviously wasn't a joke as the mouse was blushing, but it was a horrible thought.

"Sorry," muttered Doris clearly embarrassed.

"No hard feelings," Ram assured her. "No hard feelings," although he didn't seem like he was ready to completely forget the remark just yet.

Boris put his arm round his wife and squeezed her to comfort her, she was still quite red. He smiled at the others apologetically and mouthed that she was just excited at meeting them in the woods and happy, as he was at the thought of being rid of the wolves.

"I'm sorry," she said calmly. "I just let my imagination get carried away."

"Not to worry," said Bonnie and at that, the mouse seemed content.

It seemed as if the tunnels would never end, but they did eventually, but it wasn't much better as the passage opened and became a low ceilinged cave with Stalagmites and Stalactites dropping down from the ceiling and growing from the floor, sometimes meeting to form great pillars that seemed to support the cavern and hold it up.

"Where are we now?" asked Ben.

"Looks like a cave of some sort," replied Aravis running her hands along the rough surface of the walls and looking around by the light of the torch, holding it up to see everything they could.

There were yet more of the strange drawings, but as a puzzled Aravis held the torch closer he realised that they were infact woven, it was a huge slightly faded tapestry covering one wall and yet, although the drawings were strange and the writing unknown to him he had the overwhelming sense of life, of movement, but surely that wasn't possible if nobody had even the slightest idea that the tunnels were actually there. He shrugged and Aravis brought the torch into the middle of the room.

"There's no way out except the way we came," muttered Ben.

Suddenly a great big door came crashing down on the floor of the cave blocking of their entrance and narrowly missing Aravis who jumped forwards to avoid it.

Ben went up to examine it, it was made of a shiny metal, it was cold and seemed to be slightly wet. Then Ben felt something drop on his forehead, it was water. He wiped it off and looked up, there was a leak somewhere and the water was slowly falling on his forehead, but that didn't mean that it wasn't a problem, if it continued dripping, the water would build up. Ben was pretty sure the door was waterproof and the rock seemed impermeable.

"This isn't good," said Ben. "We'll drown sooner or later."

"Preferably the latter," commented Aravis looking around again. "There has to be a way out, there's always a way out in the case of an accident. That's one thing I know about these tunnels."

"But how?" asked Ben sitting down on the cold rock floor, for the first time he felt the cold, it was freezing in the cave and he wondered why he hadn't felt it before.

He shivered again and Aravis took off her cloak and swung it round his shoulders to keep him warm.

"We'll be alright," she said. "We always are."

But even so, Ben doubted the queen's words, images of his pale drowned body floating on the surface of the water kept pouring into his head like the water that was steadily trickling into the cave. He tried to push them away, but instead found himself wondering what it would be like to be dead. And he thought of Bonnie, of how he would never see his beloved twin again, would she know he was dead? Of course she would, there was a bond between them, they weren't only themselves, but also half of each other. He wanted to cry, but no sooner had the salty tears fallen from his eyes, they froze on his face like icicles and he stopped in fear that he would freeze to death.

"Are you going to Scarborough fair, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Remember me to the one who lived there, for she once was a true love of mine," sang Aravis in a soft lullaby voice making Ben feel sleepy and his eyelids began to droop.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

He saw his life flash infront of his eyes and he finally let the terrifying pictures flood into his mind, he was going to die, but that wasn't the end of the world, then he drifted off to sleep. It was a strange dream that he had that night and it was something like this.

_There were lights everywhere and yet it was dark, there were shapes, moving figures that were so clear and yet indistinguishable, being blurred, but then a voice spoke, a voice he knew and trusted and out of the sea of figures emerged a lion, bigger than most with a golden mane, it was Aslan. He was guarding what now clearly appeared to be a gate._

_Ben stepped forwards and Aslan moved to block his entrance to the place beyond the gates. No matter how hard he tried the lion always seemed to be able to block him off._

_Then he lost his footing and began to fall, his feet were sliding down a hill and he could see the gates getting further away as he fell further and further away._

Finally he woke with a start, he was lying down on Aravis' lap, on a higher part of the cave floor by the tapestry, there was already a large puddle of water on the floor, a metre or so from where they were. Ben realised that Aravis had carried him up there.

She herself was propped up against the tapestry asleep with dark rings under her eyes. Ben had never actually seen how tired Aravis looked, how worn out she was. They were going to get out of this cave.

He woke the queen up and they had a quick breakfast of cold pork and a drink of water with some parsley that Aravis had picked in the forest. The water was sea water and Aravis guessed where they were, the tunnels had led them beyond the palace and under the sea.

Ben lost his footing just then and would've fallen into the water if Aravis hadn't grabbed his hand so quickly and pulled him up, the water was rising still and was now only inches from where they stood.

"Look for a way out," instructed Aravis as they searched frantically, it was a miracle the torch was still alight, but it wouldn't last much longer.

Eventually it did blow out and for a moment Ben felt scared and alone, but Aravis held his hand tightly, then it became apparent that it wasn't pitch black as it should've been, but there was light, a dim blue that seemed to come from behind the tapestry.

"Of course!" exclaimed Aravis grabbing hold of the tapestry at the side and pulling. "Come help me."

So Ben did, he also grabbed hold of that side and they pulled. For a moment it seemed that it wasn't going to move, having been there for so long and almost grown into the rock, but finally it came loose with a great ripping noise and an avalanche of tiny rocks that cascaded down into the water below to reveal a round hole with a ladder leading up to it.

"After you," said Aravis pushing Ben up and through the hole then following him through to another cave.

As soon as they both stepped out of the first cave the great door slid back up sending the water gushing out into the tunnels and out of sight.

The cave they were in resembled the previous one with the stalagmites and stalactites forming pillars sometimes, but this time there was a staircase in the rock that wound round and round going up into the blue light at the top.

"Come on," Aravis pulled Ben to the other side of the cave to where the staircase started and they began to climb it, although it was long and the steps were slippery they took it one step at a time occasionally stopping for a drink or to catch their breath.

The pillars were amazingly high and they seemed to sparkle, to his amazement, he found they were encrusted with glittering jewels. Looking down from somewhere very near the top he saw that the cave was infact shaped like a cone.

The two came out into the fresh air, with the blue sky above their heads, they looked around to see courtiers, they were in the castle well.

"Would you like to come with us?" Bonnie asked the rats.

"Really?" asked Doris going all starry eyed.

Bonnie had seen that look before in the eyes of her friends when they went to see celebrities, she despised that look, really she did. Bonnie was a very positive person with a grand self esteem and believed that whatever anybody else could do, she could do also and so celebrities weren't that interesting to her.

"Of course," nodded Ram picking up from a distracted Bonnie.

Bonnie barely heard him, she felt a chill go up her spine causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end and for goosebumps to appear on her smooth skin. She shivered, something was wrong. Sweat began to trickle down her forehead.

"Are you okay?" came a faint voice, it sounded familiar, but she couldn't make out who it was.

Suddenly all noise was drowned out by the sound of rushing water, getting nearer and nearer, she felt wet and cold, so cold. Where was she? There was barely any light, but she could feel the rough surface of rock, she knew this place didn't she? Or at least she thought she thought she did. Or maybe it wasn't her who knew this place. Maybe it was Ben.

"Not again," she muttered.

There was a connection that existed between her and her brother that neither of them could understand. If one of them had hurt themselves then it was highly likely that the other would feel pain and if one felt strongly about something then the other was likely to experience that same feeling. The connection had been getting stronger lately allowing one twin to see what the other twin could see or hear what the other twin could hear.

This Bonnie suspected was one of those times, but the vision was confused, she couldn't really make anything out and it didn't seem to be in the right order at all.

"Bonnie," said someone as she felt herself being pulled backwards as if she was flying away from the scene, it got smaller and smaller and then it became rippled and looked brown and old like an old film or a memory.

Everything went black and then she opened her eyes to find herself lying on the floor with two abnormally big rats standing on her chest and staring at her with round eyes. She was about to scream, who wouldn't faced with such a sight. Luckily she remembered that they were Boris and Doris the two friendly mice, not rats, mice.

"Are you okay?" asked Doris.

"Erm...Yeah," she replied brushing away Ram's offer to help her up.

She pushed herself up and got rid of the dirt on her clothes before looking around slightly dazed and a little dizzy at her surroundings.

Bonnie had been perfectly clean that morning, she had looked like an elegant girl, but now she looked more like a ragamuffin who had spent the whole of the day running through the forest and trying to get dirty. That's what happens when you fall over twice in the same day, in the same hour even.

"You look good," said Ram sarcastically earning himself a look of reproach from both Bonnie and Sir Purralot. He shrugged.

"Let's get going, back to the palace," suggested the cat and the horses nodded in agreement.

Bonnie wasn't sure and the prince looked downright heartbroken, what a drama queen.

"Can we just stay a little longer," pleaded Ram. "Pleeeease."

The cat looked at his master sceptical of him then sighed and let his chest down and adopting a resigned expression on his face.

"Where would you like to go?" asked Purralot.

"Anywhere," replied Ram his face lighting up. "Could we possibly go to the Dancing Lawn?"

"Why in the name of Aslan do you want to go there?" inquired Sir Purralot.

"Because," said the prince slyly.

Bonnie was sure Purralot would have said something especially as the cat opened his mouth then closed it like a goldfish. Poor Sir Purralot, so loyal a subject and probably telling himself that what the prince says goes in his head.

Well if nobody was going to say something then Bonnie would have to. Prince Ram needed bringing down a peg or two and Bonnie was just the person to do it.

"Why do you want to go to the Dancing Lawn?" she inquired stepping in front of him preventing him from going anywhere.

"Because," he answered irritated.

"Why?" she persisted.

"If you must know," he said haughtily. "There is something there I wish to get."

"And what is that?" she asked.

"That's none of your business," he said.

"Seeing as we are going there it is my business," she replied.

"You don't have to come you know, you're not invited," he remarked coldly. "Now get out of my way."

"No," she replied stubbornly. "Not until you tell me exactly where we're going."

"Why do you need to know?" he asked.

"Because otherwise we're not going are we," she said crossing her arms and looking to her friends for support in the cause.

Ram looked round to check whether or not the others were with Bonnie and for a moment or two it seemed as if they weren't quite sure, but then they all puffed up their chests and stood tall demonstrating that they would put the plan into action if Ram did not reveal the reason behind his wanting to go to the Dancing Lawn.

The prince raised an eyebrow as if it might make the group change their mind about knowing and just follow him, but the animals stood their ground waiting for him to make his move. Waiting for him to tell them why he wanted to go.

"Well..." he started, but paused nervously, it was the first time that Bonnie had seen him act nervously towards anyone, but then again she had only met him that day.

"Get on with it," said Bonnie. "We haven't got all day you know."

"Alright, alright," he raised his hand for silence. "There is something buried at the Dancing Lawn that I would like to get."

"What is it?" asked Bonnie regarding Ram with suspicion.

"Nothing," he said innocently as Bonnie's eyes stared at him, but there was something wrong with how he said it, it sounded too innocent so was probably a lie.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow, not entirely convinced at the prince's answer.

"Really?" she muttered.

"Okay there this object I buried and it has the power to control minds and I'm sure it can do some other stuff as well, but I didn't have time to find much out about it," he sighed.

"When did you bury it?" inquired Bonnie.

"A few years ago,"" answered the prince.

Sir Purralot had been watching them closely, Bonnie had seen him doing it all through their conversation and now he spook up softly stroking his whiskers and looking thoughtful.

"I know how the young mind thinks and I am not at all surprised that you may excited by this object," he said. "But is an object as powerful as that better left underground where no one can find it, where no one can use it on another?"

Bonnie thought for a while, Purralot was right, with great power comes great responsibility and were they ready to take that responsibility upon themselves? She was sure that the answer was no. She looked over to Ram who also seemed to be weighing up the odds and then he spoke.

"I never thought of it like that," he said. "And I think that you're right, perhaps we should leave it where it is in that case."

"But what if someone else finds it?" asked Bonnie. "What if it causes great distress to many people? What if it starts to corrupt people in their search for it?"

"I think we should leave it," suggested Purralot. "At least until we have the means of putting it in a safe place."

"So I guess that means we're not going then," sighed a crestfallen prince Ram.

And Sir Purralot shook his head in confirmation of the statement.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

So maybe they had underestimated the castle protection system, although it was somewhat empty compared to normal, but that didn't mean that there wasn't anyone there. Infact there were guards pacing up and down the courtyard, minding their own business and being guards basically.

"Duck!" hissed Aravis pulling Ben down below the rim of the well just as a guard turned in their direction.

"Now what?" asked Ben unsure.

"I hadn't thought of this," she muttered peering over the top again before sitting down on the step. "We need a plan. A new plan," she added as an afterthought.

"How about we do this Robin Hood style?" suggested Ben grinning.

"Robin who style?" inquired Aravis.

"Never mind," he shrugged. "Right one of us, preferably you fires an arrow at the tower and then all the guards run over there to find out who it is you were firing at. We then jump out of the well and run across the courtyards to hide behind the cart I saw. We then wait for the guards to resume there positions and sneak through the stables into the main castle, then we make our way to the kitchen go through the cupboard and hey presto," he clapped his hands and proudly ended his explanation.

"Uh huh..." said Aravis unconvinced, she had a doubtful expression on her face. "Won't the guards wonder who shot it and come over here."

"We'll just have to get out as fast as possible," said Ben not wanting to have his plan degraded too much.

Ben looked down and realised just how far up they really were, he could see the water still and calm below them, a light shade of blue and there was something there, something that looked out of place in the water He leaned over to get a better look, dislodging a small portion of rock as he did. It tumbled slowly into the water causing the surface to ripple in a certain way, it was almost magical. He leaned over even more and then...

"What do you think your doing?"

A strong hand yanked him up, out of the dreamlike state he was in and set him firmly on the step where he would be safe.

"What was that for?" he asked puzzled.

"Are you mad?" inquired Aravis. "Leaning over the edge like that, why if you'd leaned any further you would have fallen."

"Oh," said Ben. "Well, er... Thank you."

"Your plan doesn't quite work," Aravis pointed out. "Atleast not the beginning of it, the guards are going to want to find out who shot the arrow not who it was shot at." Ben shrugged.

"So what are we going to do?" he asked.

"Well," sighed Aravis. "I'm not entirely sure really. If only we could cause some kind of a diversion."

"What do you have in mind?" inquired Ben noting the twinkle in the woman's eye.

The guards and courtiers of Cair Paravel were going about their business, completely ignorant to the fact that there were two people from the future inside the castle well, waiting...

Suddenly there was an explosion, it was the barrels of wine lately stacked. Shards of burning wood flew everywhere as the courtyard seemed to catch fire. The stench of burning alcohol hung in the air like a thought at the back of the mind, nagging at you to get in. Guards ran to the well and heaved up buckets of water.

When they had all run back to the fire with their buckets, when they turned their backs, they didn't see two cautious, yet fast figures climb out of the well. In the smoke all that could made out of the figures were their shapes moving swiftly towards the stables where they disappeared from sight.

"Come on," whispered Aravis as they left the smouldering courtyard for the smelly stables.

"Wasn't that illegal?" asked Ben unsure.

"Who's to say what's illegal and what isn't," replied Aravis as they trudged through the hay.

Ben heard a squelching noise and so apparently did Aravis as she turned around to face him. He dreaded what came next and wondered if he was just the comic relief in his tale. The boy looked down at his left foot, it was planted in horse poo.

"Lovely," he muttered sarcastically shaking it off. Aravis stifled a laugh as he wiped it on the hay with a look of utmost disgust on his face. "Why does this always happen to me? Why?"

"Stop moaning Ben, honestly!" exclaimed Aravis. "It's just a it of poo."

"It's alright for you," Ben grumbled. "You don't have horse poo on your shoe."

"We haven't got time for this," announced Aravis grabbing Ben's hand and pulling him through the stables.

"Stop right there," came a voice from behind.

If this was a movie then they would have slowly turned round to face their opponent, well that was the way Ben saw it. Luckily for him it wasn't a movie as Aravis hissed in his ear.

"Run," she whispered.

They set off as fast as possible towards the door that led from the stable to the castle. They ran through it and into the cool corridor beyond, it was a bit of a shock as they had gotten used to the hot smoky air caused by the fire. Both of them took a sharp breath of cool fresh air.

"Which way?" asked Ben.

He had been in Cair Paravel before for a day or two, but that all seemed so far away in the past or the future as it would be.

"I think it's this way," said Aravis pointing to the right and setting off just as their pursuer veered into the corridor to find them.

Then Ben tripped and fell, he pulled Aravis down with him. Although she got up pretty fast and pulled him up too it was too late, their pursuer was upon them.

"Draw your sword lad if you wish to fight lad," said the man raising his.

A dumbstruck Ben realised that the man was talking to him and also that he still had a sword in his belt.

"I think I'll pass," gulped Ben.

"Get behind me," instructed Aravis as she stepped boldly infront of the boy.

"Well this is a change from the normal tale," mocked the man.

He was a tall person and they were dwarfed next to him. He carried a sword and wore a suit of armour and to any onlooker Aravis was no match for him.

Then the swords clashed and banged as they thought and Aravis really did look overwhelmed and things just kept on getting worse as more guards charged in and Ben decided he had to help his friend. So he hit an unsuspecting guard on the head stealing his sword then joining in the fight. He cut madly this way and that and almost took Aravis' head clean off. After that he was more careful taking aimed lunges, but no matter how many he cut down the guards just kept coming.

And so it was with a heavy heart that Bonnie and the others started the journey back to the great castle by the sea, Cair Paravel. Although most were probably relieved, Bonnie definitely was, after the hectic day she'd had, who wouldn't want to get back to the calm everyday life off the palace.

There was definitely one person who didn't want to go back, prince Ram. Ever since Sir Purralot had rejected his proposal of going to the dancing lawn he hadn't spoken to any of them. He skulked at the back off the group, but not last as that place was occupied by Sir Purralot who claimed he was feeling to tired to speed up, but Bonnie suspected it was because he wanted to keep an eye on Ram, just to make sure he didn't sneak off to the dancing lawn when nobody was looking.

"And so," said Doris. "I was down by the river earlier today, just before I met you infact when you'll never guess what I saw."

"What?" asked Bonnie turning her head to the right to look at the mouse.

The two mice had taken quite quickly to Bonnie and were now perched on either shoulder telling her about their adventures that seemed really quite interesting including the kinds of things she never noticed before being a human.

"Well," continued the mouse. "There were four or five men. They all had dark skin, which is something that I've never seen before in a human. Maybe they were rolling around in the mud," she added absentmindedly.

"Did you say dark skin?" asked Ram suddenly moving forwards soon followed by Sir Purralot who looked worried and Bree and Hwin turned their faces, looking a mixture of scared and worried.

"Are you sure?" asked Bree.

"Definitely," nodded Doris. "And four of them too with pointy hats."

"That can't be good," said Ram.

"Will somebody please tell me what the big deal is?" asked a frustrated Bonnie.

"Humans with darker skin are not from Narnia or Archenland," started Hwin. "They come from a land south of the desert called Calormen. It is a cruel land where all animals are treated like slaves. I should know as I was once there myself. You should never trust a Calormene. Except for Queen Aravis of course, she was the one who helped me escape. The dear Queen has unfortunately been kidnapped by them and so it is not good if they were here and they were wearing pointy hats you say?"

"That's right," agreed Doris.

"Then they are from the army," explained Bree. "Which means that they are not alone. We must get word to the castle immediately! The fastest way is by horse. So Bonnie, you climb on Hwin there and your highness can get on my back."

Bonnie rolled her eyes at the address of _your highness_, but climbed on Hwin's back anyway.

"You'll be alright won't you Sir Purralot?" inquired Hwin.

"I am a cat," said Purralot as if that was all the explanation needed.

Ram's mouth was hanging open as he climbed on to Bree's back. As any Narnian or Archenlander will know it is a great honour to ride on the back of a talking horse as it is forbidden at all times except in the case of an emergency.

Talking animals are always much faster than normal animals and so Bonnie felt so amazed as they took of at a gallop, she had taken riding lessons before, but the feeling she had now was a hundred times better than that. The wind brushed her cheeks and swept through her hair throwing it far out behind her. She felt so light as the trees flew by and many times she felt the mice lift off her shoulder slightly, but they didn't fall off.

The scenery raced passed, it like watching a film sped up. Bonnie had little time to admire the surroundings, alot less time than she'd had before when they were going there. The castle soon came into site, getting bigger and bigger by the second. They were soon only a few hundred metres away, Bree seemed to slow down a bit, but picked up again when he saw Hwin still galloping as fast as she could.

They charged through the open gates and into the courtyard where The horses stopped and the humans jumped down as people and animals crowded round, they had caused quite a commotion among them, but the children had no time to explain. So they left the horse behind and ran up the steps to the main entrance to the castle and then along a few corridors and round a few corners before they finally arrived at the great oak doors that led to the throne room.

One of the three thrones was empty, that of Peter who was out on the Northern marshes, helping the Marshwiggles gain control of their land again, taking it back from the giants as Queen Susan explained.

"So, what can we help you with?" asked King Edmund.

"We're about to be attacked by Calormenes!" exclaimed Ram.

"Are you sure?" asked Queen Susan as if she really hoped that they weren't.

"Of course we are," insisted Bonnie.

Bonnie watched them closely and for a moment, they seemed to share a knowing look, the problem was that Bonnie didn't know what it meant.

"Maybe we ought to discuss this somewhere else," said Queen Lucy getting up. "Follow me."

The children followed the queen out another smaller door, hidden from view by a pillar and a wall. It was made of pine and Bonnie could still smell the strong scent coming off it. The door creaked as it was opened and the Queen held it open for the children and they passed through into a corridor.

They then went up a flight of stairs and along another corridor to yet another pine door which the Queen held open for them. This time they arrived in a rather warm room that looked just like a classical old English study with red velvet chairs and a fireplace.

Suddenly the door slammed behind them and a key turned in the lock and they seemed to realise at exactly the same time that the Queen had shut them in.

"Let us out!" shouted Ram.

"It's for your own protection," explained Queen Lucy. "We can't have anything happening to you."

"But we'll be fine," Ram shouted back. "Let us out!"

"We're not taking any chances," replied Lucy and then they heard her footsteps getting quieter.

Bonnie realised that the look that had passed between the three rulers was the plot to lock them in the room, out of harms ways _for their own protection_.

Aravis battled with her pursuer as Ben tried his hardest to keep the guards back, away from her. It was an easy job as they were all much older and much stronger than him, but a few skilful lunges knocked them to the floor. What the guards lacked in intelligence, they made up for in stamina as they kept picking themselves up off the floor and fighting Ben again. He had to get them atleast three times each and one guard he was sure he had struck fourteen times.

Ben had known from the start that it would not be easy, fending off so many guards at once, but Aravis couldn't help, she was having just as hard a time as hard a time as him trying to fend off the masked attacker.

_What a coward, _thought Ben as he continued to duck, block and weave away from the blows that the guards threw him while trying to inflict his own as well.

Just as things were looking up, the masked man struck Aravis, with the hilt of his sword, a forceful blow to the head and she fell to the floor, one hand clutching her head and the other her sword. She was in pain, it was obvious to see, but the man was ruthless. He lifted his sword to kill her once and for all. Then he brought it down hard, but Aravis was too fast for him, she blocked it with her sword.

The man seemed confused by this and Aravis took her chance, in a flash she was back on her feet with the point of her sword poking slightly into the man's back.

"Drop your sword," she ordered and the man dropped it and it clattered to the hard concrete floor. "Now turn round."

He did as he was told.

"Take off your mask," ordered Ben.

"We're not here to aggravate him," Aravis reminded Ben with a stern look.

"Still," muttered Ben sadly.

"Alright," sighed Aravis, she turned to the man again and adopted a more authoritive voice. "Take it off."

The mask was removed cautiously to reveal the pale face of a young man, he was slightly gaunt, but was profusely blushing. Ben guessed correctly that it was because he had been beaten by a girl.

"What's your name?" inquired Aravis.

"Lucono," he replied defiantly and a look that said _stop-being-a-drama-queen_ spread across Aravis' face.

"Well Lucono, we can do this the hard way or the easy way, move," Aravis explained as she steered him towards a pillar, he went without resistance. "en find some rope," she told him.

So Ben left with Lucono at Aravis' mercy, he couldn't run back to the stables, because he didn't know the state of it and guessed that it was probably on fire by then. He came to a door and opened it, it squeaked terribly and Ben was surprised that half a dozen soldiers didn't fall on top of him at the noise. Behind the door was a store cupboard.

The store cupboard was quite chilly compared to the corridor, it had peeling brown wallpaper and looked as if it hadn't been entered for quite some time. There were objects of all description in it, but no matter how hard he rummaged through the items in it, he couldn't find any rope of any shape or form.

Ben did however find what could only be described of as broomsticks, not brooms you'd find in a house to brush up mess with, but real magical looking broomsticks that you'd expect to see in films like Harry Potter. The boy was fascinated by them and pulled them out of the rubble. Attached to them was a long sturdy rope, he untied it carefully so as not to damage the broomsticks in any way.

He then ran all the way back to Aravis and gave it to her, she didn't seem to register the broomsticks, but Lucono obviously did. He seemed so surprised that he didn't notice that Aravis had dropped her sword to tie him up. When he did realise, it was already too late as he was bound to the pillar and Aravis was tying the final knot.


	8. Chapter 8

**If you've stuck to reading all of my story despite the long chapters then congratulations. I would just like to say a huge great big thank you to Muzica for reviewing so many times. Thanks :) Have a virtual cookie. I hope you all enjoy this.**

**Chapter Eight**

He struggled in vain, but Aravis ignored him turning back to Ben.

"What's this?" she asked finally seeing the broomsticks. She looked puzzled. "Are these real?"

"Uh huh," nodded Ben.

"I think I know what we can do to get out of this mess, it will be a faster way of getting to the kitchens as well," exclaimed the queen. "Follow me."

She led him to an arched window, wide enough for two people to walk through, not that any normal person would, but still. Aravis climbed onto the ledge and beckoned to Ben to follow her. He did unsteadily.

"Pass me a broom," she instructed and swung one leg over it.

Ben decided that it would be a good idea to copy her and so they both stood with their brooms on the ledge. Ben felt a bit like an idiot just standing their like a character from a book or film.

"Jump," shouted Aravis.

And she jumped, Ben hesitated for a minute, but soon followed. He could feel himself falling, the wind rushing against his face and whistling in his ears. He could see the ground speeding towards him,, a little faster than he would have liked.

He closed his eyes ready for the impact, but nothing came. When he opened them he was no longer falling, he was hovering inches from the ground instead.

"Come on," called Aravis from above. "Good job these work huh."

Ben gulped then nodded. He leaned forwards then leaned backwards so that his broom flew up towards Aravis and was soon at the same height as her. He had no trouble following her from then on as he had finally figured out how to steer his broomstick without difficulty. They flew along the west of the castle, outside the actual walls as the kitchens were on that side.

"There it is," Aravis pointed out one of many windows, he could see figures moving behind it.

Ben flew after her, down towards the window. It was a plain window really although the glass was slightly patterned so that they couldn't see through it clearly. Why they had patterned glass at the kitchen windows, he had no idea.

There was a latch on the inside to open it and Aravis proved to be skilled at such jobs as she pushed and pulled the pane in different directions until it made a faint clicking sound that told them that it was indeed open. She then pulled it open just enough for them to slip through one at a time. Ben almost flew through when Aravis pulled him back.

She had already dismounted her broomstick and was standing on the floor. Ben copied and they began to climb the wall to be able to slip through and into the kitchen without being seen. The crawled fast to the cover of one of the tables. They continued to crawl through the kitchen in this fashion. At one point, a cook stepped on his hand and Ben had to stuff his other fist in his mouth to stop himself crying out with pain.

The cupboard they had come through came into sight, just a few feet from where they were hiding. It was a dash to get into the cupboard, they were followed by a cook who must have taken them for thieves he shouted just that and pointed to them. They closed the cupboard door just as the cooks crashed into the cupboard. Then they pushed their way further and further back.

Bonnie paced around the study, she was aware that the others were watching her, but she didn't care. She wanted to find a way out. She wasn't going to sit in that room while everyone else risked their lives. She couldn't do that and neither could the others.

The study was typically British and their was a desk on which stood propped a book. It was open at a page with a ribbon marking it. A curious Bonnie walked over to it breaking her continuous pacing and examined it.

The book was handwritten in neat, curling writing, like the kind you'd expect to see in an old manuscript from times gone by. She closed the book to have a look at the front cover.

It was a mixture of painted scenes, lush meadows and beautiful rivers and seas and right in the centre in plain view was a lion that bore a vague resemblance to Aslan, but no painting could ever capture his true looks, the warmth that radiated from his body, the courage carried on his breath and eyes filled with fierceness and yet so kind. No, such a painting was not possible.

"It's a tale, a huge story book," she muttered out loud.

"Well that's just brilliant," replied Ram sarcastically. "At a time like this, you want to read a bedtime story. Why?"

"You don't get it," she said frustrated. "I think that if we read this we might be able to find a way out of this stupid room."

"Fine," agreed the prince. "You can do some research while I search for an easier way out."

She shot him an uninviting look and picked up the book, carefully so as not to damage it. She then carried it carefully over to a puffy armchair by the fire calling out to be sat on with it's red velvety cover and smooth surface. Bonnie sat down in it with the book in her lap.

It was heavy and weighed on her fragile and skinny legs, but she opened it at the first page where the title of the book was revealed, "_The Pevensies in Narnia_", not the most brilliant title in the world, but it would have to do. And plus, didn't that mean that the kings and queens weren't from here. She was right about that as the book was written in little diary entries by one of the rulers each taking turns, the first read;

_I do not remember the exact details of what happened in those few days that we were first here as a family, but I will never forget how when we were playing hide and seek in the professors manor house back in England and I found the wardrobe in an empty room. I will always remember how I pushed through the coats, further and further back until I set my hands in cold snow and I looked up to see a snow flecked sky and shining like a lighthouse in the night was a lamp post._

_By that lamp post was one of the dearest creatures I have ever met, fawn Tumnus. He took me back to his little, humble home and told me stories and sang to me and then he told me to go, he told me about the white witch and seeing as I had been there for hours, I guessed it was time I was getting home, the others would start to miss me._

_So you can only imagine what a surprise it was for me when I burst out of the wardrobe, out of the spare room and right into Edmund who told me that no tie had gone by at all, that he hadn't even finished counting, I told him my story and insisted that I really had been gone for hours, but he was doubtful so I told Peter and Susan and they too did not believe me and told me to stop being a baby._

_I was really unhappy at that, I was really angry with them._

_Lucy Pevensie_

_We really should have believed Lucy about the wardrobe, but we were too "grown up". Well we were playing cricket and the ball smashed through a window, we went to get it and then we heard footsteps and ran into the spare room where we all piled into the wardrobe and into the land of Narnia, we were pretty angry with Edmund, he had lied about going there before._

_It was of course snowing and we all threw snowballs at him, it was so pretty all around, we were in a pine forest near a lamp post. I remember thinking what a strange familiar object to find so far from home, in a different world._

_Susan Pevensie_

_I admit that I was naive to trust the white witch and I'll never forgive myself, but she seemed so kind and generous at the time, she'd said that she wanted to make me prince and I wasn't really on good terms with the others at the time._

_We walked through the snow after they told me off, Lucy wanted to take us to Mr Tumnus, but when we got to his hut, it had been up turned and there was no sign of the faun, he had gone._

_Outside, we were approached by a Beaver and he told us what had happened, Susan of course remarked that it could talk, she's not all that bright sometimes. He took us to his dam and told us of the continous winter and of the evil white witch. I didn't want to believe it so while the others sat intently listening to the beavers I slipped away to the castle between the two hills._

_Edmund Pevensie_

"Any good?" asked Ram interrupting her reading.

He was peering over her shoulder and she brushed him away.

"Not really," she sighed. "It's just the story of how they got here really."

"Well then," he piped up. "Any good at lock picking."

"What do you think I'm some kind of burglar," replied Bonnie, he raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a burglar, you idiot."

"You can always hope," shrugged the prince.

"I'll try with my claws," suggested Sir Purralot blowing on them and walking towards the door then inserting one into the lock.

He fiddled around with it for ages while the rest of the group waited anxiously.

"It's no use," he said about to give up when the door clicked.

"You did it!" exclaimed Ram surprised.

The door creaked open to reveal Ben and Aravis. Bonnie got up from her chair and ran over to give him a hug.

"You're okay!" she smiled squeezing him.

"Need air sis," he said pretending to die.

She let go of him, Ram was hugging Aravis and she looked so happy.

"Where have you been?" asked Bonnie.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied.

"Try me," she prompted.

"To cut a long story short, we were in the past," he told his sister. "Now come on, if you want to take part in the battle, we'd better go now."

"I'm not sure I want to be in the battle," muttered Bonnie.

"Well you don't want to be stuck in here do you?" asked Ben peering over his sister's shoulder and around the dimly lit study that looked a bit boring really and wondered how long the little group of people had been there.

"I suppose not," she shrugged and then they all left the room, closing it and locking it behind them so that they would not be found out.

Both the Bowler twins were delighted to see each other and cannot in all my happiest dreams describe it with words. The feeling goes past happy, it soars passed ecstasy and goes beyond complete and utter bliss. And as they ran down the corridor each twin silently loved the other as only brothers and sisters do.


	9. Chapter 9

**Welcome to all of you lovely people who have read this. This is it though. The end.**

**Chapter Nine**

The corridors flew past as they walked stealthily down them and round the maze that was the architecture of the castle of Cair Paravel. They could here the cries and sounds of battle getting nearer and nearer and they could even hear the worst part, the screams of a dying man, the howls of a fallen beast. It was almost unbearable.

Bonnie faltered and almost fell but was saved by the surprisingly strong arm of Sir Purralot. He pushed her back to her feet and nobody had to stop to attend Bonnie as she hadn't fallen over.

Ben was surprised at Bonnie's uneasiness on her feet as he was so used to her perfect balance. She had been taking ballet lessons for the past few months and never seemed to loose control of her "internal balance" as she liked to call it.

They all continued until they came to the last corner, the battle was taking place just inside the castle, in the courtyard that once boasted stones and an array of plants, but now was covered in red and brown stains of injured fighters.

"I don't like the look of this," muttered Bonnie who was the only one of the group who had never been in a real battle with people.

"Don't worry," said Ben. "If you're fighting to survive, it takes your mind off things."

Bonnie was not reassured, she did not like the idea of killing people at all.

"So has everybody got a sword?" asked Aravis her eyes sweeping over the rest of them. "Good. Then let's go."

It was the queen who went round the corner first followed by her son and then Sir Purralot, Ben and finally Bonnie looking very pale.

Neither Bonnie nor Ben could ever remember much about what had happened that day during the battle, but Bonnie remembered the cry of her wounded brother before she was struck herself and Ben remembered the pain and the dread at his own sister's downfall.

Bonnie remembered lying on the ground before she finally lost consciousness, a little while after her brother. Apart from that, both had lost their memory of what happened in the battle.

Ben woke up a little while later feeling better than he had ever felt before in his life. He saw the queen, Lucy standing nearby and she smiled at him, waving a bottle of some kind of liquid. He wasn't sure why, but didn't really care at that moment for he was too worried about his sister.

"Where's Bonnie?" he asked suddenly.

Ben got up and looked around the room, Bonnie was on the bed next to his. Queen Lucy was pouring a drop of the liquid into Bonnie's mouth. Suddenly she sat up as well.

"Ben!" she exclaimed and got up to give him a big hug.

"You may see them now," said queen Lucy opening the door to somebody before leaving.

Queen Aravis and prince Ram entered the room led by Sir Purralot. They had happy smiles on their face and the cat's eyes looked watery.

"Purralot are you going to cry?" asked Bonnie.

"No, no," he replied. "I've just got something in my eye..."

He was interrupted when Bonnie lifted him of his feet and gave him a big hug.

"Your such a silly cat," muttered Bonnie.

"Ben!" smiled Aravis. "You're okay! Thank goodness! I think that if I lost you it would be like loosing a son."

Aravis then gave him a big hug as well.

"It's good to see you're okay," said Ram sadly to Bonnie.

"What's up?" she inquired, concerned about his mood.

"Nothing," he dismissed the question.

"What?" she persisted.

"Aslan's here," he replied. "He says it's time for you to leave. I don't want you to go."

Bonnie put Sir Purralot gently on the floor and threw her arms around the prince. She kissed him on the cheek before they both blushed a deep red, like tomatoes.

"That's sweet," she said. "But we have to go. Where is he?"

Ram broke away and led the rest of them out of the room and out of the castle to the orchard where a magnificent lion was dozing in the evening sun.

"Hello children," he said. "You have been brave and proved yourselves to be true Narnians. But now it is time to leave."

"Can we come back?" asked Ben.

The lion said nothing but opened a door in the air. Looking through it the twins could see their street and the lamp post they had disappeared under. Ben took Bonnie's hand.

"This is it," he said and they stepped through.

A moment later they were back in the street, it was just how they had left it. Bonnie looked up at the clock, it was exactly the same time as when they had left.

"You know," she remarked. "I don't think our adventure took any time at all."

"You know what," started Ben. "I think you're right."

A week later the results of their second test arrived. The children were on the stairs and their aunt opened the door.

"It's a miracle!" exclaimed the doctor as he came through the door. "I don't know how it happened, but the children are completely cured!"

"Did you hear that children," called their aunt. "It's over, you're going to be alright!"

Aunt Beatrice was now sobbing tears of joy and relief at the good news. The children looked at each other, they had a feeling Aslan had something to do it.


End file.
